Cincinnati Reds, American professional baseball franchise based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Reds play in the National League (NL) and were founded in 1882. They have won five World Series titles (1919, 1940, 1975, 1976, 1990) and nine NL pennants.

The city of Cincinnati lays claim to hosting the first truly professional baseball team, called the Red Stockings, which began play in 1869 and was undefeated in its first 81 games against amateur clubs. Another Cincinnati-based team by the same name was one of the founding members of the NL in 1876, but this team was expelled from the league in 1880 for playing games on Sunday and allowing liquor on the grounds of its ballpark. While 1882—the year a Red Stockings club that featured a few members of the banned NL squad joined the nascent American Association (AA)—is officially recognized by Major League Baseball as the current franchise’s first year, most Cincinnatians nevertheless consider the Reds the oldest franchise in baseball, and the Reds organization itself includes these earlier clubs in the team history.

The Red Stockings finished atop the AA in their first season and posted winning records in most of their eight years in the league. The team moved back to the NL in 1890, which was the same year it shortened its nickname to “Reds.” Cincinnati fielded a number of teams through the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, never finishing higher than third place in the NL until 1919.